SYNOPSIS: Two turkeys from opposite sides of the tracks must put aside their differences and team up to travel back in time to change the course of history - and get turkey off the holiday menu for good.

REVIEW: Jimmy Hayward, director of Horton Hears a Who! and Jonah Hex, returns to animation to bring us the self-proclaimed Greatest Thanksgiving film of all time. Hayward also writes the film with the help from Scott Mosier, David I. Stern and John J. Strauss.

Turkey Reggie (Owen Wilson, The Internship) finds himself at the losing end of trying to convince his farm brothers that the farmer is just trying to fatten them up for Thanksgiving dinners. When Reggie is pardoned by the President of the United States, he switches a life at the end of an axe handle for a life of pizza and relaxation at Camp David. One night, Reggie is visited by another turkey Jake (Woody Harrelson, Zombieland) who is convinced that he and Reggie must travel back in time to stop turkeys from being on the menu at the first Thanksgiving between the pilgrims and the local Indians. Actually finding a time machine with the acronym S.T.E.V.E. (George Takei) to take the duo back in time, Reggie and Jake meet intelligence and resource turkeys hiding from the pilgrims led by Chief Broadbeak (Keith David), his son Ranger (Jimmy Hayward) and his daughter Jenny (Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation). The only things standing in the way of the turkeys' safety are the pilgrim's greedy and gluttonous Governor Bradford (Dan Fogler) and his driven turkey hunter Captain Myles Standish (Colm Meaney).

How many animated films are there with the theme of turkeys and Thanksgiving? A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving? Mouse on the Mayflower? A few select others? Hayward's claim of Freebirds as the greatest Thanksgiving movie of all time probably will not hold true. Centered on the plight of the turkeys themselves, Freebirds is a slick flick similar to recent animated effort Epic.

Freebirds looks good, every plume and feather in place. Hayward's experience as an animator for Pixar truly came in handy for this film. The problem with Freebirds, as well as the aforementioned Epic, is that as an animation the film is colorful and kinetic but not that amusing. Usually, an animated film has something for both the children and for the parents or adults. This time, other than a few cries during Captain Standish's scary pursuits and a few awwws for the baby turkey puffs, there was not enough to provide more than a few chuckles.

Owen Wilson does have a great drawl for voice work, and Woody Harrelson and Amy Poehler are capable. Colm Meaney is mean as Standish - or is he just drawn that way. I could listen to Keith David all day long. But with just an adequate story to tell, all the glitz of CGI and all the talented voices cannot get this turkey off the table.